[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 17

MONGOLIA:

Mongolian President set to bring death penalty back for child abuse crimes



President of Mongolia Khaltmaa Battulga said he intends to bring back death 
penalty for child abuse crimes.

Mongolian president has appointed lawyers to restore death penalty, Mongolian 
media report.

"The death penalty is not suited in the current Mongolian society. We should 
talk about abolishing it when we have a stable society and matured 
individuals," Gogo Mongolia reported Battulga as saying.

Capital punishment for child abuse-related or brutal murder cases has been 
abolished in Mongolia in 2012.

Death sentence was formally removed from statutes by a 2015 Act, which took 
effect on July 1, 2016.

(source: akipress.com)








JORDAN:

Rapist who killed Syrian child receives death penalty



The Grand Criminal Court on Tuesday sentenced a man to death for raping and 
murdering a 7-year-old Syrian child in Amman in July.

The jury said the defendant's confession and the technical evidence submitted 
during the trial proceedings were sufficient to convict the defendant and hand 
him the death penalty by hanging.

The convict was charged with murder in accordance with article 2/328 of the 
Penal Code.

Back in July, the rapist took the child away to an abandoned house in Amman's 
Jabal Al Nuzha district, sexually assaulted him and took his life in a gruesome 
crime, which stirred a furious public reaction. He was arrested shortly after 
leaving the house.

(source: petra.gov. jo)








ZAMBIA:

President Lungu holds closed door meeting with a 3 man delegation from Amnesty 
International at State House



President Edgar Lungu yesterday held a closed door meeting at State House with 
a 3 man delegation from Amnesty International where issues concerning death 
penalty, land acquisition and the rights for the poor majority were discussed.

Special Assistant to the President for Press and Public Relations Amos Chanda 
says President Lungu emphasized during the meeting that the organisation is 
free to come to Zambia and conduct their own research where allegations of 
human rights abuses have occurred including illegal detentions.

President Lungu noted that the team from Amnesty International is free to go 
anywhere in the country and report back to him with clear evidence of name and 
incident.

The President has also asked the organisation to work closely with the Human 
Rights Commission (HRC) in either whistle blowing, addressing human rights 
concerns as well as making suggestions.

Mr. Chanda added that Mr. Lungu has further called on Amnesty International to 
provide its input in what the country looks forward to see in the amended 
public order act, constitutional amendments and generally the human rights 
regime in Zambia.

Meanwhile, the President has emphasized that on his part he does not think that 
death penalty is a deterrent and so he remains in a position where he wouldn't 
sign a death penalty for any prisoner.

President Lungu added that he does not support the death penalty as a deterrent 
against the crimes.

Mr. Lungu said he alluded to the decision he made to commute the death 
sentences of over 330 people adding that the status currently remains like 
that.

However, debate can go on as to whether the constitutionality of the death 
penalty is constitutional or not bearing in mind that the case is before the 
Supreme Court, he said.

Mr. Lungu has further urged the Human Rights Commission and Amnesty 
International to not just examine allegations when the rich and powerful people 
are involved but to also work for the human rights of the poor as the rich and 
powerful have easy access to lawyers.

Amnesty International which was led by Secretary General from London Salil 
Shetty suggested that a matrix be created to assess where Zambia???s response 
on human rights is monthly, quarterly and yearly to which President Lungu was 
agreeable.

Meanwhile, President Edgar Lungu has also called on all institutions involved 
in land alienation to ensure that the rights of the poor in terms of land 
acquisition take precedence.

The President said no investor should displace people without taking care of 
their communal rights such as access to water and grazing land among other 
concerns.

(source: lusakatimes.com)








ZIMBABWE:

50 apply for hangman's post



Over 50 Zimbabwean job-seekers have applied for the hangman's post which had 
remained vacant since 2005, a top official in the Justice ministry has said.

Justice ministry secretary Virginia Mabhiza said her office would soon go 
through the applications, but would not give a timeline as to when the 
appointment will be made.

"The response has been overwhelming and the applications have been from both 
men and women interested in taking up the position of hangman. We have received 
over 50 applications in the past few months.

"People are very interested," Mabhiza said yesterday.

Zimbabwe last executed a prisoner on death row in 2005 and international rights 
lobby group Amnesty International has applauded the country for the "10-year 
hiatus", urging authorities to declare an official moratorium on the death 
penalty.

Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa, the immediate past Justice minister, has 
consistently declared Zimbabwe would not implement the death penalty "under my 
watch".

Mnangagwa, who survived the hangman's noose at the height of the liberation 
struggle, said he had raised his opposition to capital punishment with 
President Robert Mugabe.

According to Mabhiza, the country has 92 people on death row, but the absence 
of the hangman has stalled their execution.

Asked whether it would not be complicated to apply the death penalty in 
Zimbabwe given constitutional provisions that protect teenagers, women and all 
those beyond 70 years from capital punishment, Mabhiza said the provision was a 
step towards abolition.

"We should not look at it as discriminatory, but as part of steps that we have 
taken as a country towards abolition. But as things stand all people who fall 
in the category not protected by the Constitution can be hanged.

"This means all men between 18 and 69 years and have been convicted of murder 
in aggravated circumstances can receive capital punishment," she said.

"Remember under the previous dispensation, we had 7 categories of people who 
could be hanged, but now we are left with 1. We are moving in the right 
direction as far as abolition is concerned".

Government sources claim Mnangagwa's successor, former Central Intelligence 
Organisation boss Happyton Bonyongwe, is also against the death penalty.

"The indication is that he is also against the death penalty. We will wait and 
see how things move, but he has indicated that he is in support of abolition of 
capital punishment," said a source.

Mabhiza would not be drawn into commending on Bonyongwe's position.

"He is still new to the ministry and we are still to hear his position," she 
said.

(source: newsday.co.zw)



THAILAND:

Death penalty abolition 'not easy' in Thailand



It is not easy to abolish the death penalty in Thailand, the director-general 
of the Rights and Liberties Protection Department says.

Department chief Pitikarn Pitikarn Sithidej told a meeting held on Tuesday to 
consider the possibility of abolishing the capital punishment.

Also present was Colin Steinbach, head of the political, press and information 
office of the EU delegation to Thailand.

The meeting is held to mark the World Day Against the Death Penalty on Oct 10.

Ms Pitikarn said that abolishing the death penalty does not mean offenders will 
not receive punishment they deserve.

But the aim is to end the death penalty, which is seen as a cruel, inhumane, 
and uneconomical means of punishment, and to reduce the chance of wrongful 
execution.

The death penalty goes against the human rights principles and most prisoners 
on death row are the underprivileged who cannot afford to hire capable lawyers, 
Ms Pitikarn said.

There is no proof that the death penalty can deter crime, she added. So far, 
141 countries have abolished the death penalty, while 57 still have it, she 
said.

For Thailand, the last death penalty was administered in August 2009 and if no 
execution is carried out by 2019, the death penalty in Thailand will 
effectively be suspended, Ms Pitikarn said.

However, Ms Pitikarn admitted that it is difficult to abolish the death penalty 
in Thailand, partly because many people in society do not understand that there 
are alternatives to capital punishment.

Many see the death penalty as a means to get revenge, she said, adding the 
abolition must also involve legal amendments and opinions must be sought from 
all stakeholders, a time-consuming process.

(source: bangkokpost.com)








INDIA:

To hang or not to hang? Debate begins on capital punishment, alternative 
methods----Plea in Supreme Court?wants execution by hanging to be judged 
against global opinion and evolving standards of human decency

The last execution carried out by the state was that of Yakub Memon, in 2015. 
Convicted for his role in the 1993 Bombay blasts case, the charted accountant 
was hanged at the Nagpur central jail. Relatives weren't allowed to attend the 
event. Instead, his death was witnessed only by a magistrate, a doctor, and a 
few prison officials.

Now, nobody but the people present at the spot know how Memon suffered through 
his last moments among the living. Did death come instantly, or did he suffer? 
They aren't saying.

Over 1,414 convicts have been hanged since Independence, but there is just as 
little information on how agonising their final moments were. So, why has this 
issue suddenly become relevant now, after all these years?

At death's door: An investigation into capital punishment in India

A public interest litigation has once again ignited a moral debate on the 
question of hanging a convict by the neck till his eventual death. The 
petition, filed in the Supreme Court, wants execution by hanging to be judged 
against the backdrop of international opinion and evolving standards of human 
decency.

Hanging has been India's favoured mode of execution for over 100 years now, 
although the armed forces also regard death by firing squad as a legal way to 
end a convict's life. The question of the noose was addressed by the Supreme 
Court in the Deepa vs Union of India judgment in 1983, almost 34 years ago, but 
the horror that accompanies hanging was explicitly expressed only in this one.

Justice Bhagwati, in his minority judgement, provided a graphic description of 
the execution process. Here's an extract: "The day before an execution, the 
prisoner goes through the harrowing experience of being weighed, measured for 
the length of (the) drop to assure breaking of the neck, the size of the neck, 
body measurements, et cetera. When the trap springs, he dangles at the end of 
the rope. There are times when the neck does not break, and the prisoner 
strangles to death. His eyes almost pop out of his head, his tongue swells and 
protrudes from his mouth, his neck may or may not break, and the rope claims 
large portions of skin and flesh from the side of the face. He urinates, he 
defecates, and droppings fall to the floor while witnesses look on, and almost 
all executions have had one or more person fainting or being helped out of the 
witness room. The prisoner remains dangling from the end of the rope for 8 to 
14 minutes before the doctor climbs up a small ladder and listens to his 
heartbeats with a stethoscope and pronounces him dead."

While the case primarily tested the constitutionality of death by hanging, it 
also discussed alternative methods of execution. However, the eventual 
conclusion was that hanging is indeed the most humane, painless and speedy way 
to execute a felon.

Name your poison

There are 9 common methods of execution: Hanging, firing squad, shooting, 
beheading, lethal injection, stoning, lethal gas, electrocution, and a 
particularly ghastly one that involves throwing people from a height.

The most common method is hanging, with as many as 60 countries authorising 
this practice.

The least common methods are electrocution, lethal gas execution and throwing 
off heights.

The United States is the only country to authorise both electrocution and 
lethal gas execution.

Iran is the only country to authorise pushing individuals from heights

Ruling in defence of hanging, the judges said: "Hanging by rope is not a cruel 
way to execute the death sentence. The mechanics of hanging have undergone 
significant improvement over the years, and it has almost been perfected into a 
science. The system is consistent with the obligation of the state to ensure 
that the process of execution is conducted with decency and decorum, and 
without causing degradation or brutality of any kind."

The option of electrocution was rejected because it was not an "entirely 
painless" mode of execution. "Besides, power cuts have been considered as an 
impediment in the use of the electric chair in America. With the frequency of 
power cuts in our country, the electric chair will become an instrument of 
torture," the judges said.

They also refused to consider lethal injection as a mode of execution, stating 
that it was by-and-large an untried method. The firing squad idea was shot down 
on the grounds that it was an unreliable technique, and not a very "civilised" 
way of ending somebody's life. The gas chamber method was likewise dubbed as a 
complicated one that would expose the prisoner to an uncommon level of torture.

Nevertheless, it has to be acknowledged that a lot has changed since the 1983 
judgment. Hanging as a mode of execution has come under severe scrutiny.

In 2003, the Law Commission of India took it upon itself to study the pros and 
cons of hanging as the choice mode of execution. This exercise, which invited 
comments on the matter from judges, police and members of the legal fraternity, 
threw up some astounding results.

According to the study, as many as 80% of the judges said the mode of executing 
the death penalty should be changed. They were all in favour of the lethal 
injection. However, this method is also known to have its problems, with 
several instances of botched-up executions cropping up in recent times.

The jury is still out on the pertinent question of, if not hanging, what is the 
best way to legally kill a person? The debate, at least, has begun.

(source: hindustantimes.com)








INDONESIA:

Pulo Mas robbers sentenced to death, life imprisonment



The East Jakarta District Court found guilty the defendants in a robbery and 
murder case that took place in Pulo Mas, East Jakarta, sentencing 2 of them to 
death and the other to life imprisonment.

The 3 defendants, Ridwan Sitorus aka Ius Pane, Erwin Situmorang aka Ucok and 
Alfin Berius Sinaga aka Alfin, have been detained since Dec. 29, 2016.

"Ius Pane and Erwin have been proven guilty of murder and Alfin Sinaga is 
guilty of aiding and abetting," presiding judge Gede Ariawan said on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, a lawyer for the defendants said they would appeal the verdict.

"We object to the verdict and will appeal," said 1 of the defendants' lawyers, 
Djarot Widodo.

The 3 defendants robbed a home owned by Dodi Triono, 59, in Pulo Mas, East 
Jakarta, on Dec. 26. They used a gun and machete to threaten their 11 victims, 
who they then locked in a 1.5 by 2-square-meter bathroom.

6 of the victims died of asphyxiation, while the rest survived.

(source: Jakarta Post)

***************

Attorney General Admits Other Institutions Affects Execution of Death Penalty



Attorney General M Prasetyo admits his office is waiting for completion of 
legal aspects in order to carry out the death penalty, especially for death row 
inmates convicted on drug charges.

According to him, there are a lot of death row inmates who have been convicted 
inkrah (legally binding), about 10 people. Nevertheless, execution is also 
constrained by the rejection of death penalty from non-governmental 
organizations.

"There are always pros and cons, that's what we consider," Prasetyo said in 
Jakarta, Monday (10/16/2017).

Another obstacle, positive law in Indonesia requires a legally binding decision 
and all legal rights of the inmates are met before executing the death penalty.

The technical preparation of execution has actually been completed since the 
end of July 2016. A total of 24 executors from the police was ready 100 %. 
Nusakambangan Prison at that time had even been sterilized in preparation for 
the execution. However, until now the execution has not been implemented.

Prasetyo said, there are 2 aspects that must be met when executing the death 
penatly; the juridical and technical aspects. The juridical aspect relates to 
the process and legal rights of the inmates.

According to him, there are still death row inmates who filed a review and 
pardon. Thus, not all legal rights have been met.

"If the juridical aspect is met, the technical aspect is easy, we would just do 
it (execute)," he said.

(source: netralnews.com)